Water Balance of the Czech Crop Mix in 1961 – 2019

Abstract

Changing climatic conditions raised the question of sustainability of current agriculture practice which is based mostly on the intensive farming. This approach requires high inputs including water. The major part of crop production in the Czech republic is depending on precipitations. The aim of this paper to evaluate precipitation balance for the most common 10 crops planted in the Czech Republic in period 1961 -2019.To achieve this aim we used the Czech technical norm and so called "optimal rainfalls" for crop production. These optimized precipitation in planting season should ensure optimal yield for each crop. These optimal values are based on the observed temperatures and soil type and quality. We have calculated the optimal rainfalls for 10 most common crops which represents 94,52 %, resp. 92,8 % of the total crop production in the Czech Republic. The obtained results show deficit of precipitation in the whole observed period, except the years 1965 and 2001. These findings can be interpreted in both ways, precipitations for optimal yield was recorded only in 2 cases out of 59. And at the same time there is a question if the missing precipitation is used from the ground water which increase the problem of droughts of past years.